You're probably using some older example/template. Try to use code from the documentation
Copy<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
<link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.0.0-beta3/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" integrity="sha384-eOJMYsd53ii+scO/bJGFsiCZc+5NDVN2yr8+0RDqr0Ql0h+rP48ckxlpbzKgwra6" crossorigin="anonymous"/>
<title>Hello, world!</title>
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
<h2>Basic Modal Example</h2>
<!-- Button trigger modal -->
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-bs-toggle="modal" data-bs-target="#exampleModal">
Launch demo modal
</button>
<!-- Modal -->
<div class="modal fade" id="exampleModal" tabindex="-1" aria-labelledby="exampleModalLabel" aria-hidden="true">
<div class="modal-dialog">
<div class="modal-content">
<div class="modal-header">
<h5 class="modal-title" id="exampleModalLabel">Modal title</h5>
<button type="button" class="btn-close" data-bs-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></button>
</div>
<div class="modal-body">
...
</div>
<div class="modal-footer">
<button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary" data-bs-dismiss="modal">Close</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary">Save changes</button>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.0.0-beta3/dist/js/bootstrap.min.js" integrity="sha384-j0CNLUeiqtyaRmlzUHCPZ+Gy5fQu0dQ6eZ/xAww941Ai1SxSY+0EQqNXNE6DZiVc" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
</body>
</html>
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Answer from GAMELASTER on Stack OverflowVideos
The modal plugin toggles your hidden content on demand, via data attributes or JavaScript. It also adds .modal-open to the to override default scrolling behavior and generates a .modal-backdrop to provide a click area for dismissing shown modals when clicking outside the modal. [source]
How to use via Vanilla JavaScript
Create a modal with a single line of JavaScript:
var myModal = new bootstrap.Modal(document.getElementById('myModal'), options)
source
A quick example:
var myModal = new bootstrap.Modal(document.getElementById("exampleModal"), {});
document.onreadystatechange = function () {
myModal.show();
};
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<meta
name="viewport"
content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, shrink-to-fit=no"
/>
<link
rel="stylesheet"
href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/5.0.0-alpha1/css/bootstrap.min.css"
integrity="sha384-r4NyP46KrjDleawBgD5tp8Y7UzmLA05oM1iAEQ17CSuDqnUK2+k9luXQOfXJCJ4I"
crossorigin="anonymous"
/>
<title>Hello, world!</title>
</head>
<body>
<div
class="modal fade"
id="exampleModal"
tabindex="-1"
role="dialog"
aria-labelledby="exampleModalLabel"
aria-hidden="true"
>
<div class="modal-dialog">
<div class="modal-content">
<div class="modal-header">
<h5 class="modal-title" id="exampleModalLabel">Modal title</h5>
<button
type="button"
class="close"
data-dismiss="modal"
aria-label="Close"
>
<span aria-hidden="true">×</span>
</button>
</div>
<div class="modal-body">
...
</div>
<div class="modal-footer">
<button
type="button"
class="btn btn-secondary"
data-dismiss="modal"
>
Close
</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary">Save changes</button>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<!-- JavaScript and dependencies -->
<script
src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/umd/popper.min.js"
integrity="sha384-Q6E9RHvbIyZFJoft+2mJbHaEWldlvI9IOYy5n3zV9zzTtmI3UksdQRVvoxMfooAo"
crossorigin="anonymous"
></script>
<script
src="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/5.0.0-alpha1/js/bootstrap.min.js"
integrity="sha384-oesi62hOLfzrys4LxRF63OJCXdXDipiYWBnvTl9Y9/TRlw5xlKIEHpNyvvDShgf/"
crossorigin="anonymous"
></script>
<script src="./app.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
As for your code, you didn't follow the right way to show/toggle a modal in Vanilla JavaScript. Why did you expect myModal.show() to happen while myModal is just a DOM element?
- Create a new instace of modal and then call show method(see usage points)
var myModal = new bootstrap.Modal(document.getElementById('exampleModal')) myModal.show()

ref: https://v5.getbootstrap.com/docs/5.0/components/modal/#options
note: Bootstrap v5 no more uses jquery, instead it uses javascript. lots of changes are there in bootstrap v5, if you are working for a company and willing to use Bootstrap v5 then please go through all the changes.